قراءة كتاب Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Saint Paul An Account of the Old and New Buildings with a Short Historical Sketch

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‏اللغة: English

Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Saint Paul An Account of the Old and New Buildings with a Short Historical Sketch

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المؤلف:

Dimock Arthur

دار النشر: Project Gutenberg

الصفحة رقم: 4

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@25266@[email protected]#imagep076" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">The West Front of St. Paul's Cathedral, from a photograph

76 North-East View 85 Section of the Dome 90 The Lantern, from the Clock Tower 92 The Choir and Nave, from the East End 96 The Order of the Interior, drawn by Peter Cazalet 97 The Geometrical Staircase 101 Interior of the Dome, from an engraving by G. Coney 105 The South Choir Aisle 110 Bishop's Throne and Stalls on the South Side 111 The Choir, Altar, and Reredos 117 The Wellington Monument 123 Nelson's Monument 128 Monuments of Dr. Donne and Bishop Blomfield 131 Nelson's Tomb 133 Church of St. Faith in the Crypt 135 The Library 136 Plan of the Cathedral At end

SOUTH VIEW OF OLD ST. PAUL'S IN 1658.
After the Etching by Hollar, in Dugdale's "History of St. Paul's Cathedral." ToList

ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL.

CHAPTER I.ToC

ITS FOUNDATION AND HISTORY TO THE ACCESSION OF DEAN COLET (61-1505).

Romano-British.—Tacitus, in his characteristically concise style, introduces London into authentic history during the apostolic era and the reign of Nero.[1] Suetonius Paulinus, governor of Britain, came in hot haste from Mona, suspending the slaughter of the Druid leaders in this their last fastness, to restore the Roman arms. For Boadicea, Queen of the Iceni, outraged at the treatment of herself and her two daughters, had, like a second Deborah, raised a popular uprising against the foreign invaders. Colchester fallen, the ninth legion annihilated, nothing remained but to abandon the thriving mart of London itself for a time to the fury of the natives, before the Roman sway could be restored.

The ground rising both from the northern bank of the Thames, some three hundred yards distant, and from the eastern bank of the Fleet beck, forms an eminence. Here, to protect the riverside mart below, on or about the site of the present churchyard the Romans formed a camp; and looking down what is now Ludgate Hill, the soldiers could see the Fleet ebbing and flowing with each receding and advancing tide. Northwards the country afforded a hunting ground, and a temple to Diana Venatrix would naturally be erected. During the excavations for New St. Paul's, Roman urns were found as well as British graves; and in 1830, a stone altar with an image of Diana was likewise found while digging for the foundations of Goldsmith's Hall in Foster Lane. On such incomplete evidence rests the accuracy of the story or tradition that a temple of Diana occupied part of the site of the present Cathedral.

Suetonius himself restored order in London; and in spite of insurrections, she progressed during the next three centuries to become a centre of such importance, Roman highways spreading in different directions, that the accurate and impartial Ammianus Marcellinus concedes to her (circa 380) the style and title of Augusta. And it was during these three centuries of progress that Christianity obtained a firm footing, but when and how we know not. The picturesque story, which deceived even Bede, how that Lucius, "king of the Britons," sent letters to Eleutherus, a holy man, Bishop of Rome, entreating Eleutherus to convert him and his, must now be put down as a pious forgery.

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